1. Technical Field
The disclosed embodiments pertain to methods and systems for identifying devices. The disclosed embodiments particularly pertain to methods and systems for identifying devices using speckle patterns.
2. Background
Implantable medical devices can be used to perform a variety of functions for patients needing medical care. Such devices include relatively large devices, such as implantable defibrillators, and relatively small devices, such as bone screws and stents.
In order to provide an appropriate level of patient safety, all implanted devices, and many non-implanted devices, must be serialized to enable tracking if a part defect, product recall, concerns about counterfeit parts or other reliability issue arises. While a relatively large medical device is typically identified by a serial number that is written, engraved or otherwise labeled on the device, a smaller device is conventionally identified only on its packaging by a serial number or a lot number because such devices are too small to be directly labeled by conventional means. As such, when a small, unlabeled medical device is explanted and/or returned to a supplier without its packaging, it can be impractical or impossible to identify the manufacturing lot from which the device came and/or the serial number assigned to the device.
Adequately identifying small devices can also be problematic in other fields as well. For example, a small semiconductor device might not be sufficiently large to identify the part number, the lot number, the manufacturer and the like.
What is needed is a method and system for uniquely identifying a device, particularly a device that is difficult to directly label with a serial number.
A further need exists for a simple and inexpensive process for performing such identification for medical and non-medical devices.
The present embodiments are directed to solving one or more of the aforementioned problems.